Marshfield Clinic/Saint Joseph's Hospital Bariatric Center

Dr. Pitchford is a very helpful surgeon. He trys to get your surgical date scheduled asap. I have nothing but good feelings about him. Many people I know that have had weight loss surgery went elsewhere to have it done. I was comfortable with Dr. Pitchford from the start and would recommend him to anyone that is considering some type of weight loss surgery.

I am a Surgical tech who works with Dr. pitchford. I had a huge advantage by knowing his skills first hand. I knew3 what I was getting my self into as far as surgery.
I think that support groups are very important and Dr. Pitchford has that all set up in Eau Claire ,Wi. I think I received most of my information by talking with others, that is why I think this web site will be a good thing to get involved with.
My overall expierence was a good one . I had a competant surgeon and alot of support.

The fact I work in Dr. Pitchford's office does not bias me in any way. :-)

Ok, now that the disclaimer is out of the way I will give you my opinion.
Dr. Pitchford is a very quiet, soft-spoken gentleman. He is about 35 years old and a military reservist. He has not done very many surgeries as of yet. I don't think he has done 100 yet. He does the RNY (almost always lap) and the lap band. I had a RNY.

He insists all patients go to his information session before an appointment with him will be scheduled. It takes about 3 months to get into. The sad thing is how many people wait so long to get in, then don't show up for the session. Now they have to wait again and some else could have been moved up if we had been given some notice. :-(

Dr. Pitchford will explain in great detail, but you do have to ask questions. His nurse, Sue also answers many questions and is a great help to patients as they go through the process. She was even nice to me when I bugged her about how my paperwork was going.

Aftercare is stressed very much. He has a support group the 1st Thursday of the month. It started out for post-ops, but became a mixed group after they invited the pre-ops to come and ask questions. It was a big help to me to listen to everyone's experiences. He also stresses the need to work with the nutritionists after surgery.

He explained the risks, but did not over emphasize them. I think the fact that I work in his office may have limited some of his explanations to me, under the assumption I already knew. He did answer any questions I put to him.

Even though he has not done hundreds and hundreds of surgeries I would rate him very high. He cares very much about the outcome of all his patients. He does other general surgeries as well as the two bariatric procedures, so he is not trying to build a big practice out of this. He is the only surgeon in about a 2-3 hour radius that does this surgery, so he could do just bariatric surgery if he wanted to.

I think his surgical skills are great. I could barely tell anyone had been poking around inside me. His bedside is OK, very nice, but cool and polite.

I met personally with Dr. Pitchford on June 10, 2004 for my eval. I listened to him at the orientation as well so could ask questions at that time as well. He seems to be a bit of a quiet person, serious but also has a smile behind it all too. I did ask him a personal, somewhat hardcore question at the orientation and he seemed very honest when answering me. That assured me that he is human but seems to strive to do his very best. Sue seems to be very nice and informational as well. :o) Personally I have heard nothing but positive about Dr. Pitchford and his nurse, Sue.

Dr. Pitchford has a reputation as a very competent surgeon. He has been genuinely interested in listening to my questions and has been straightforward about everything.

He was very nice and understanding. Made me feel at ease.

First impression great.

Impression changed over time.

Office staff wonderful

I feel like I have been "dumped". I have had some complications and was told they were "all in my head". I am seeing a wonderful doctor now who is caring and kind and considerate and is going to help with the problems I am having one by one.

He is a great surgeon with a horrible bedside manner. I think surgeons should see you when you are asleep, do the surgery, and then have a kindly doctor without a god complex take care of you.

I think surgeons need both. I am 8 weeks out with major stomach pain a lot of the time and sometimes you need to be cared about as a patient instead of a number.

These are my opinions only and should be taken as such. I cannot dictate what other people may experience. These are just my personal experiences.

I liked Dr Pitchford the first day I meant him. He does not judge you at all, like most doctors do. He tries very hard to get you a date for surgery.

I had my surgery on 8-26-03. Dr. Pitchford is wonderful. I've met him several times now, and he's just the best. He's kind and caring and has such a positive attitude, you can't help but feel good about yourself. His nurse, Sue, is top notch also and just as kind and caring as Dr. Pitchford!! They have an excellent program at the clinic and it's continuing to grow. The support group is great and a wonderful learning experience for the pre and post-ops. I would recommend anyone to have Dr. Pitchford do their WLS.

I HAVE ONLY MET DR. PITCHFORD ONCE AND FOUND HIM EXTREMELY NICE. HE SAID THAT I QUALIFIED FOR THE SURGERY TO BE MEDICALLY NECESSARY, DUE TO MY HEIGHT AND WEIGHT. THE PERSON WHO I FOUND EXTREMELY COOPERATIVE IS SUE, DR. PITCHFORD'S NURSE. AT TIME I FELT LIKE I WAS BEING THE BIGGEST PEST AND SHE WAS ALWAYS VERY FRIENDLY AND PROMPT TO RETURN MY CALLS. THANKS ONCE AGAIN TO DR. PITCHFORD AND HIS NURSE, SUE FOR OPENING UP A DOOR THAT I ALWAYS THOUGHT WAS LOCKED!